Home made Healthy Burritos

Hello friends iam back..... Back with my favourite mexican food.

In the recent days I have somehow got a liking to mexican food maybe coz its simple... ...you know all the ingredients that go in making each dish , secondly they taste a lot like our indian food an above all its so easy to make........

I love anything mexican.... it has so much variety in vegetarian too..... any dish u choose, u can just ask them to remove the meat/chicken and u can still enjoy all thats there in a mexican menu......

Now this is one simple and easy recipe.... I got to learn this one from one of my elder cousins.She made this when we went to visit them for new year.Now, here i would like to share her burrito recipe with all of u. Thanks akka for the recipe.


For 5 burritos
Ingredients you need:

Large flour tortillas - 5
Vegetarian refried beans - 1 can ( If your r a vegetarian see that you take a can of refried beans which says "vegatarian" , you also get traditional refried beans, but those have meat broth.)
Tomatoes : 2 chopped in cubes
Onions (optional) - 1 chopped
Green bell pepper - 1 big chopped
Corn - 2 cups
Olives - 1 cup
Low fat Sour cream - about 1 cup
Gaucomole ( i didnt use it here, u may if u wish)
Mild Salsa - 1 cup (optional)
Olive oil


Method :

In a big pan take some olive oil. Add the chopped bell pepper to it and saute til a nice cooked smeel erupts from it. See that you dont over cook it. It should be crisp. Now add in the refried beans to it and keep stirring. Cook the beans for approximately 20 mins or till it cooks well.

While the beans are being cooked keep all the other vegetables chopped well and ready in cups.In a small pan toss in the corn and toast them till u see small spots on it. It will make them taste better.



Now, take one tortilla and toast it lightly on a pan.toast both the sides. Put it on a plate and place a spoon ful of refried beans mixture on it. Top it with the tomatoes, olives, corns, salsa,(u may cut the salsa too as u already have the tomatoes,onions sour cream and gaucomole. See that u put a moderate amount of everything.... you dont wanna load ur tortilla and struggle eating..

Now , this has a three step packing which is very important. once u have put all the filling on the tortilla, see which side do u want to be the top i.e the open side and start making a horizontal fold on the bottom then fold each sides on each other.... its like packing a box...
I will post a pic of this soon.


Your Burritos are ready....isnt it easy do try it and let me know...



This is another snap of the burrito sorry for the eaten bit.... my hubby cudnt wait.

Enjoy the Burrito:)

Jeere wale Aloo

This is a simple and easy to make side dish. I love aloo (potatoes) and this recipe is my favourite. Its dry, and aloo is roasted and it has the lovely flavour of jeera in it.

Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

Potatoes (aloo) - 5 medium cubbed

Jeera (cumin seeds)-2tsp

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Fresh coriander to garnish

Oil

Method:

In a pan take some oil and put in the jeera. Once the jeera splutters put in the chopped poatoes and the masalas. Roast it well till the potatoes get well coated with the masalas and the potaoes get cooked well.

Garnish it with some coriander and your simple and quick aloo jeera is ready.

Enjoy with rotis.

Gobi Matar - Peas and Cauliflower

So here I am.....got some time from my vacation here at my brother's place hence posting a recipe. It a simple and everyday dish.... i make it often as me and my hubby both love this cauliflower.....

I dedicate this recipe to Dr. saab....my hubby's friend. There is a deep relation between Dr. saab and cauliflower.My hubby rolls on the ground with laughter when he sees cauliflower bhaji( thats coz he think of dr. saab and the cauliflower incident..)...hey Dr. Saab... if ur reading this post.... I am sorry heheheh (dont take it to heart..:) hehehh... well I dont want to break the secret out here. So,will just get to the recipe now..

To make this you need :

Cauliflower - 1 medium

Frozen Peas - 1 cup

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Green chillies - 1 to 2 slit lenghtwise

salt to taste

Corander to garnish

Oil

Method:

Clean the cauliflower well under running water. Now pull apart the cauliflower in small florets..(this can be done by hand.... u may also cut with knife.)

Now in a big kadhai...take some oil and put in the mustard seeds in it.... when it splutters add the green chillies. Now, add the peas and fry a bit.... lastly add the cauliflower and mix well. Add the remaining masalas and mix well again. Now sprinkle some water over the veggies and cook it covered for 10 -15 mins or until cooked. Remember the cauliflower should cook well but shouldnt become very tender..... orelse it will mash.

Garnish with freshly chopped coriander....this is a simple cauliflower bhaji my mom use to make often. It has no additional masala, Hence gets out the natural flavour of the vegetables.

Do try it leave ur comments...Serve hot with Chapati or phulkas.

Thank u!....thank u!......thank u!

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!!..............

Sorry for the long long gap.And thanx for all urs lovely comments on my blog.Due to certain family reasons Iam away at my brother's place in memphis.......n I am having a blasttttt...hence maybe I wont be able to post anything until the end of this month...
anyways to checking the blog and keep those comments coming..


love ya all!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shahi tofu and The Dangers of Soya????

Hi there.... I am back again with a tofu delicacy.... Tofu is like an eternal part of my monthly grocery.My hubby loves it and as we dont like to use paneer much we shifted to using tofu.
Just yesterday i got a mail from a friends of my explaining the bad effects of tofu and other soya products......specially on women consumers. I dunno how true is this.... but just wanted to share the mail with u all here. If anyone else specially the doctors among the food bloggers.... please kindly certify and let me know wts the truth........its real scary..... here is the main......

" DANGERS OF SOYA - VERY IMPORTANT FOR LADIESTHIS ARTICLE IS THRU THE KIND COURTESY OF MS SUREKHA RAMCHANDANI ONE WOMAN'S STORY ON SOYA... All Males - PLEASE pass this info to all your female friends... It may save their lives!Something to take note of. This is my true story, nothing altered.These are facts, as they relate to my experience, my opinions based on what I have read and felt. I am relating them to warn other young health-conscious women who are unwittingly harming themselves.In 1989, I graduated from high school in Texas and couldn't wait to hit the big college city. One of the changes I wanted to make was to eat healthier.Once I moved to health-conscious Austin , Texas , I began to fortify mybody with the best and healthiest foods I could find.Tofu was the main ingredient in every healthy dish and I bought soya milk almost every day and used it for everything from cereal tosmoothies or just to drink for a quick snack. I bought soya muffins,miso soup with tofu, soybeans, soybean sprouts, etc.

All the literature in all the health and fitness magazines said that soya protected you against everything from heart disease to breastcancer. It was the magical isoflavones, the estrogen-like hormones that all worked to help you stay young and healthy. I looked great, I was working out all the time, but my menstrual cycle was off. At 20, Istarted taking birth control pills to regulate my menstrual cycle.In addition to this I began to suffer from painful periods. I began toget puffy, it was as though I was losing my muscle tone. I began to suffer from depression and getting hot flushes. I mistook all this forPMS since my periods were irregular. By the time I was 25, my periodswere so bad, I couldn't walk.The birth control pills never made them regular or less painful so I decided to stop taking them. I went on like this for another two years until I realized my pain wasn't normal. At 27, my gynecologist found two cysts in my uterus. Both were the size of tennis balls. I went through surgery to have them removed and thank God they were benign. The gynecologist told me to go back on birth control pills.I didn't. In 1998, he discovered a lump in my breast.

Again, I went through surgery and again it was benign. In November 2000 my glands swelled up and my gums became inflamed. Thinking I had a tooth infection I went to the dentist who told me thatteeth were not the problem. After a dose of antibiotics the swelling still did not go down. At this point I could feel a tiny nodule on the right side of my neck. I told my mother I had thyroid trouble. Shethought I was being silly. No one in the family suffered from thyroid trouble. Going on a hunch I saw a specialist who diagnosed me withPapillary Thyroid Carcinoma.

After a series of tests he told me it was cancer. My fiance and I satstunned. We were not prepared and I was so scared. We scheduled surgery right away. The specialist told us that it would only be after the operation that a pathologist would be able to tell us for sure if it wascancer. They found a tumor in my right lobe composed of irregular cells and another smaller tumor growing on the left, so the entire thyroid was removed.They told me that after undergoing radioactive iodine I would be safeand assured me that I could live a long life. After treatment I began to search for the cause of all these problems. I never once thought it could be all the soya I had consumed for nearly ten years.After all, soya is healthy. I came upon a web page that linked thyroidproblems to soya intake and the conspiracy of soya marketed as a health food when in fact it is only a toxic by-product of the vegetable oilindustry. This was insane, after all, the health and fitness magazineshad said nothing about soya being harmful.I visited a herbalist who was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 1985. She informed me that soya was the culprit. She had a hysterectomy dueto cysts and other uterine problems. A few months later another acquaintance who had consumed soya came down with thyroid cancer.

A girl in England I met through the Internet in a thyroid cancer forum had just undergone surgery and she was only 19.What was going on???? Breast cancer is linked to estrogen. What mimics estrogen in the female body, SOYA!But I never suspected soya because until now I never once found a single article that stated soya could be dangerous. Women who took soyaprior to thyroid problems will continue to take it after if they are not aware of what soya actually does, what it contains and how itreacts in the female body. I think this is the reason that women withthyroid cancer often develop breast cancer later.My co-worker is big into soya and I see her losing hair and gaining weight despite a walking workout during her break and after work, and apples and oranges for lunch. She just had cysts removed from heruterus too.I warned her to stay off soya. I referred her to websites but until it is on the evening news on all four networks, women will suffer. Since the thyroidectomy, I do not touch soya, haven't for two years.

Dear readers, please use my story in any way you can. There are so many young girls who are consuming soya because they think they are taking care of themselves, and women taking soya because they want to behealthy.It is so unfair that the information about the dangers of soya isn't more widely circulated. It is sad. There are many out there who feel this way and it is a terrible blow when you realize you are not ashealthy as you thought and that the information that you depended onwas wrong."

Hmm this really scared me... i cant calculate how much tofu i must have had till date.... hehhe.... well i now leave this to our co blogger doctors... who will let us know the facts....rt?

Anyways this was a paneer recipe...which i exchanged with tofu....

This is how u can make it....you can use paneer here too...

Ingredients:

Tofu / Paneer - 2cups
ghee or butter - 3tbsp
onion chopped into strips - 1
ginger chopped fine - 1/2 " piece
green chillies chopped fine - 2
tomatoes chopped fine - 4
Turmeric powder - 2 tsp
Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp (optional)
cardamoms crushed -2
beaten curd - 1/4 cup
red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
garam masala - 1/2 tsp
salt to taste
milk - 1/2 cup
tomato sauce -2 tbsp
grated tofu - 2 tbsp
chopped coriander - 1 tbsp

Method:

Chop the Tofu into 2" fingers. Pan fry the tofu in little oil till they r slightly brown on both the sides. In a big pan heat half the ghee. Add onion, ginger, green chilli and cardamom. Fry for till the onions are transparent. Now, add tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes, covered.

Now, add curd and cook for 7-8 minutes.Add 1/2 cup water let it boil and then off the gas and let the mixture cool. Blend this in a mixer till smooth.
Heat remaining ghee, add gravy and other ingredients except milk and paneer. Boil till you get a very thick gravy and the raw smell from the gravy goes off. Now add the milk to it and let it cook for 5 - 10 minutes.Just before serving add the Tofu fingers and boil for 3-4 minutes.Garnish with chopped coriander and grated tofu.

Serve hot with chapati or naan.

Maharashtra ki Shaan - Misal Paav

Misal paav......every person from mumbai would know about this recipe. I simply love this item. It was some time back my back my staple food.....specially when i wasin college. we used to love the misal we used to get in the college.This misal is eaten with paav...(bun).I used to skip getting my tiffin box many a times so that i can eat the hot misal paav and vada paav from our canteen. it was so much fun.Hmmm miss all those days....



My friend who is a maharashtrian...used to make this at home..... just few days back when i was missing those old college days.... i called her and asked for the recipe.She was sweet enough to send it to me immidiately...So here goes the maharashtrian misal paav... iam sure u will love this...:)




To make this u need:


Dried white peas - 2 cups
Oil - 4 tsp
Onions-2
Jeera dhania powder - 2 tsp
Tomato - 2
Ginger garlic -1 1/2 tbsp
Green chillies - 2
Farsan - 1 packet
Dhania powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala - 1 1/4 tsp
coconut paste - 1/2 cup
red chilli powder -1 1/4 tsp
salt to taste



Method:



Soak the white peas overnight. Pressure cook the peas in a cooker.

In a big pan put some oil. Fry some jeera. When it splutters, add the chopped ginger - garlic paste, and the chopped onions. Fry them till the onion turns transparent. Add the finely chopped tomatoes.When the vegetables are tender, add the masalas to the onions and roast till the raw masala smell is gone. Now add the cooked white peas and salt to this and mix well. Add 2-3 glasses of water to the peas and mix well. Get this mixture to a boil. This mixture should not be very thick. It should be watery.

Your Misal is ready to be served hot. Garnish the farsan on top on this misal.Granish with freshly chopped coriander leaves and lemon wedges. Also add some fresh chopped onions.

Serve hot with Paav or bun.

Banana Fritter Delight.

I had similar dessert in a thai restaurant. It was banana fritters served with chocolate syrup and coconut icecream. It was so tasty....... just few days back when I saw an almost forgotten banana lying in the corner I remembered that dessert. I made some changes and came up with this recipe. It turned out too good. Do try it.

Okie now as its raining bananas this is also my contribution to the JFI: banana held by Mandira of aahar (http://ahaar.blogspot.com/2007/09/jfibanana.html).





Check out the recipe.


Ingredients :

Ripe Banana - 1
Oil to fry
Roasted Seasame (Til) seeds - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 1/2 tsp
Ice cream - 2 scoops (any flavour - I used malai kulfi)
Chocolate syrup



Method:

Peel the banana and cut it into half. Now cut the half piece lenghtwise into slices. Shallow fry these slices till they are golden brown in colour on both the sides.


In a seperate pan take the sugar and add 1 tbsp water and mix well. Heat this mixture till it becomes a bit thick and turns light brown in colour. Keep this aside. This mixture shudnt be very sticky or thick...


Now for the arrangement.... in a serving plate arange the fried banana slices. Top it with the sugar syrup (u can also use honey or maple syrup according to taste) now sprinkle it with roasted sesame seeds. Put some ice cream on the plate... and pour a bit of chocolate syrup on top.Your delicious dessert is ready.





Serve the bananas a bit warm and the ice cream ice chill. It gives a Divine taste.Enjoy this amazing dessert.

Vegetable Chilla

This dish has always been something i have loved to make as well as eat. yeah....and the reason is its very very simple to make, less time consuming, packed with nutrition and tastes amazing... yes... its very tasty...with loads of vegetables or even without any.

A simple and healthy way to start ur day.

here goes the recipe:



You need :

Besan (Gram flour) - 1 cup
Green chillies - 1 0r 2 (acc. to taste)
Ginger grated - 1 tsp
Buttermilk or curd - 1/2 cup
onions - 1 medium
tomato - 1 big

(I have used cabbage and grated carrot here..... u can use any vegetable to want... chopped finely. Spinach tastes amazing in this..)

Cabbage finely chopped - 1/4 cup
Carrot grated- 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Jeera(cumin seeds) OR ajwain (fennel seeds) - 2 tsp
Oil

Method :

In a mixing bowl put in all the ingredients, except oil and mix well adding little water and forming into a batter with the consistency of dosa batter.Leave this batter aside for 5-10 minutes.

Now take a non stick tava...( iIsuggest to use a non stick tava... coz putting cabbage makes this a bit soggy.... hence it will be difficult to get it off the normal tava. You can use normal tava if ur making this without cabbage or spring onions.)

Pour this batter in the centre on the tava and spread it into a round like for dosa...... orelse pour the batter in centre and move n twist the griddle to spread the batter.

let it cook on both sides... till nice golden brown in colour and crisp.

Serve hot with Masala dahi and pickle. Even tomato ketchup pairs up good with this. Best to served as a evening snack or morning breakfast.

College Chaat

College Chaat

I found this recipe somewhere on the net.... I liked this recipe coz it has peanuts as its major ingredient, and it is my hubby's favourite. He loves peanuts.

I don't know y its called college chaat....guess maybe coz its similar to the "chundal" we get in beach and near colleges in chennai....hmmm dunno but for sure this chaat rocks.... do try it and let me know ur comments.

Ingredients:

peanuts roasted and dehusked - 1 big cup (u can even use the roasted and salted peanuts u get in market.)

Tomato - 1 medium

Cucumber chopped in small cubes - 1 cup

Green chillies - 2 finely chopped (optional)

Sev or any farsan - 1cup

green chutney - 2 tbsp

chaat masala - 1 tbsp

lemon juice - 2 tsp

Raw Mango pieces - 1/3 cup (optional)

salt as per taste

Method:

Chop the tomatos in small pieces.Take the peanuts and put them into mixing bowl and add finely chopped tomato, onions,cucumber, lemon juice, green chillies, farsan, raw mango pieces, chaat masala, green chutney and salt in the bowl.Mix the above ingredients for 1/2 min.

Serve chilled along with tea or coffee. Amazing as an afternoon snack.

Vazhakai Bonda - Raw banana Bonda

Well this is called....last minute thinking.....I made this dish specially for the WYF snacks event by SnackORama (http://snackorama.blogspot.com/2007/08/sunday-meal-5-whats-your-favorite-event.html) and the JFI: Banana...by ahaar (http://ahaar.blogspot.com/2007/09/jfibanana.html) I have submitted one recipe each for the 2 events but wasnt satisfied with just one... Banana is such a versatile ingredient and there are so many things one can make with it......but no time...

This recipe is my contribution to both these events....do check out the round up. For the details on the event cleck on the links given above.

Anyways here is my recipe...the tasty and tempting evening snack.... Vazhakai bonda..... In tamil raw banana is called vazhakai... hence the name.:)

You will need :

Raw banana (Vazhakai) - 2 small, peeled and sliced

Ural dhal - 1 cup

Pepper - 2 tsp

Jeera - 1 tsp

Green chillies - 3

Salt to taste

Oil to fry

Method :

Soak the urad dhal in luke warm water for around 3 hrs. Slice the bananas in thin slices and keep aside. Now in blender...put the soaked urad dhal...(drain the water completely). Add the sliced bananas, green chillies, salt, jeera,pepper and grind into a coarse paste.

Heat some oil in a skillet. Drop small balls of the batter into the hot oil. fry till golden brown in colour. Your Vazhakai bonda is ready to be served.

Serve hot with Tomato ketchup or mint Chutney... This is an amazing evening snack...Enjoy!!

Mixed Vegetable in Mustard Paste

Mixed vegetables in mustard sauce. Well I cant say this is whole and soul my recipe... its an adaptation with some changes. Got this recipe from some old recipe book of mine, tried it and it was amazing... very chatpata. Do try and please give me ur reviews and comments. All your comments encourage me to cook better. You can make this even with just broccolli and cauliflower or even with just potatoes. Enjoy..!!


Got this idea of making this mustard special because of sunita and her mustard special event. its my contribution for this event.

Ingredients :

Potatoes - 1 1/2 cups

Capsicum - 1/2 cup
Brocolli and Cauliflower Florets - 1 cup each

Red Chilli Powder - 2 tsp
Saunf - 3 tsp

Coriander powder - 2 tsp

Black mustard seeds - 4 tbsp

Yellow mustard powder - 1 tbsp

Green Chillies - 1 chopped

Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
Mustard oil / Vegetable oil - 8 tbsp

Salt to taste

Coriander leaves - Few sprigs

Lemon juice to taste

Method :

Grind the mustard seeds, salt, chillies, sauf, coriander powder,turmeric, and water to a paste. Let this paste stand for at least one hour exposed to air (the oxidation helps prevent the mustard seed from becoming bitter).

Boil the potatoes till half cooked. Toss them in some oil, add a bit of salt, chilli powder and shallow fry them till golden in colour.

Steam the vegetables (except potatoes). Stem the vegetables till half cooked.Now, saute the broccoli and cauliflower and capsicum in the oil (mustard oil really does improve the flavor) over high heat until slightly crisp and brown around the edges.

When the broccoli and other vegetables are slightly brown and crisp, add the fried potatoes in it.mix them well. Now, add the mustard mixture and toss. Add chili powder now if needed. Reduce the heat and cook covered until all the liquid is absorbed, for about 5 to 10 minutes.Remove from heat and garnish with sprigs of fresh cilantro (Indian version) or parsley (Western version). Add the lemon juice and mix well.

This recipe is my contribution for Sunita's Think spice : Mustard Seeds (http://sunitabhuyan.blogspot.com/2007/08/my-monthly-event-think-spice-think.html). Do leave ur comments..:)

Serve hot with naan or rotis.

RCI: Karnataka..... Recipe 2 : Vangi Bhath

My hubby is an amazing cook, I never had any doubt about it.But this really took me by shock. It was a lousy sunday afternoon and I was busy doing my work and was bored to make lunch....hence, I requested my hubby if he could make any of his rice items.And he came up with this.....





Okie to build some surface for my hubby's culinery skills, I would like to say that my hubby is super talented when it comes to making rice dishes. His speciality item is Tomato rice and Vegetable Biryani.Today I add to the list Vangi Bhath...:)... the best part is he made it without the vangi bhath masala yet it tasted so nice and so authentic...( i cannot make it without the vangi bhath masala.)


So here iam displaying my hubby's talent and his recipe for this super Vangi bhath.okie the presentation and photography courtesy goes to me hhehehe.... just kidding..

This recipe is also my (and my hubby's) contribution to RCI : karnataka event hosted by Asha (http://foodieshope.blogspot.com/2007/09/my-karnataka-cuisine-first-edition.html). Thanx Asha.



To make this you need :


Vangi (Brinjal) - 6-7
Onions - 1 medium chopped
Green Chillies - 2 slit
Chana dal - 2 tsp
Peanuts - 1 cup
Basmati rice - 1 1/2 cups
Mustard seeds - 2 tsp
Garam masala - 1 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 2 pinches
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Chaat masala -2 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 tsp
Tamarind pulp - 1/2 cup
Curry leaves few leaves
Coriander leaves to garnish
Oil







Method :

In a pan take some oil and put the mustard seeds and chana dal and fry till its golden in colour and the mustard spluters. Put in few curry leaves. Fry the onions for some time.Add the green chillies and saute. Add the turmetric powder, red chili powder, garam masala, Coriander powder and chaat masala.Mix well.

Now put the cut brinjals in it. Cook till the brinjals become tender.Now add the basmati rice to this and saute for some time. Now pour this whole mixture in a rice cooker or pressure cooker. Pour 2 1/2 glass of water and let it cook well.Once done garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot with onion raita and potato chips.

RCI : Karnataka --- My Contribution Bisi Bele Huli Anna

The Taste of Karnataka

The culinary fare offered by Karnataka is quite varied with each region of the state having its own unique flavors. Many factors and influences have contributed to enrich this culinary heritage. Karnataka is also known as the coffee-bowl of India. It is the spice country which produces the best cardamoms, fondly called the queen of spices or gold and black pepper.

Karnataka's culinary culture revolves round three staple items – rice, ragi and jowar. However, the people in the northern districts have a preference for wheat and jowar rotis (unleavened bread made of millet) eaten with spiced vegetable preparations. In rural Karnataka, ragi is widely used with each meal. This staple grain is steam cooked and rolled into balls the size of cricket balls and served with hot chutney or huli (a cousin of sambhar).
The Kodavas or Coorgis, who are culturally quite different from the rest of the state, have an equally distinct cuisine. They are perhaps the only Hindus who serve non-vegetarian food and alcoholic drinks for their marriage ceremonies and traditional festivities. Most of the Coorgi curries—noted for their flavor and taste—are coconut based, lightly spiced and moderately sour.
The coastal cuisine of Karnataka is as delightful as that of Coorg. Fish and seafood are available in plenty and since the majority are fisher-folk, the cuisine is simple, yet flavorsome.

KARNATAKA SPECIALITIES :

A typical Karnatka meal has many delicacies like Kosambari, a salad made of the broken halves of the soaked green moong dal (lentil) minus its skin, spiced with salt, green chili and mustard seed (oggarane) and mixed with tiny scrapings of coconut, cucumber and carrot and dressed with a little lime juice. Then there are the playas which are vegetables steamed or boiled to retain the original color and flavor. Sometimes, huli is replaced with a milder kootu. Tamarind is taboo for kootu, which is spiced with lots of pepper, cumin seeds and ground coconut. Also, no Kannada meal is complete without saaru-a clear pepper broth.

Other popular Karnatka specialties are bisi bele huli anna, which is created out of rice, dal, tamarind, chili powder, and cinnamon, the gojju-a vegetable, most popularly bitter gourd, cooked in tamarind juice and jaggery with chili powder in it, chitranna-rice with the juice of lime, green chili and turmeric powder and sprinkled with fried groundnuts and coriander leaves, and Majjige huli with tovve which has vegetables in a buttermilk base. Breakfast foods in Karnatka include the popular uppittu (upma in Tamil) made of roasted semolina and laced with chilies, coriander leaves, mustard and jeera (cumin seed). Karnatka's exclusive dosai served in some restaurants catering to the middle class is the famous set or a pile of four dosais served on a banana leaf, and topped with coconut chutney, potatoes, and two small pats of butter.

Kesari bhath (a halwa made of semolina, sugar, and saffron), chiroti and Mysore pak are among the favorite sweets in Karnatka. But the piece de resistance is the obbattu or holigea-flat, thin, wafer-like chappati filled with a mixture of jaggery, coconut and sugar and fried gently on a skillet. Along with payasa (south Indian kheer), obbattu is always served with celebratory meals in Karnatka. Other delectable sweets that come out of the Kannada kitchen are the shavige payasa made of vermicelli and sugar, hesaru bele made with green gram dal, and baadami hallu, which is, crushed almonds mixed with milk, sugar and saffron.

Isnt all this mouthwatering? Well here I tried "Bisi Bele Huli Anna"

In Kannada, BISI means HOT, BELE means DHALL, HULI means TAMARIND and ANNA means RICE. Hmmm all these ingredients get water in my mouth and the mixture of these... the main recipe... just makes u crave for more. So here it goes the recipe for Bisi Bele Huli Anna.

To make this you need :

1½ cups uncooked rice

1½ cups split red gram (tuvar dal)

8 cups water

2 cups of mixed vegetables chopped (potatoes, brinjals and beans., peas, capsicum)

1 lemon size ball of tamarind or 2 tsp tamarind paste

1 tsp oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp jeera seeds

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp chilli powder (optional)

1 cup Roasted peanuts (dehusked)

6 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)

salt to taste

a handful of fried cashewnuts to garnish.

Fresh coriander leaves to garnish

For the Masala powder:

2 tsp split bengal gram(chana dal)

2 tsp split black gram(urad dal)

2 tsp raw rice

3 tbsp coriander seeds

3 tbsp grated coconut

1 tsp methi seeds

1 tsp jeera

6 dry red chillies or to taste

2"cinnamon stick

6 curry leaves

½ tsp each of asafoetida and turmeric powder

3-4 cloves

2-3 cardamom

This spice mix powder can be made days in advance and stored in an air-tight bottle.

Method :

Roast all the ingredients of the spice mix in a little oil. Cool and then dry grind. Keep aside.

Soak the tamarind ball in some hot water and extract the juice. Keep aside.

Cook the rice and the tuvar dhal in the rice cooker or pressure cooker.

In a big thick bottomed pan add some ghee/oil. Add the chana dhal,jeera and mustard seeds to it. When the chana dhal, jeera turns golden and mustard splutters add the onion and saute till tender. Now add the rest of the vegetable and cook. Now add in the turmeric pwder, salt, chilli powder and garam masala and cook till the vegetables cook well.Add the roasted peanuts to this and mix well.

Now, add the cooked rice and dhal mixture, tamarind juice / tamarind paste, and salt. mix well. Now add the roasted masala powder. Add 3-4 glasses of water to this and keep on lowand cook well. This rice shouldnt be very thick, it should be a bit semi liquid. The consistency of the recipe matters a lot.

Add the ghee (clarified butter) to this rice as a topping. Allow to simmer on a low flame stirring continuously for 15 minutes till the rice is fully cooked and all the ghee (clarified butter) is used up. Garnish with fried cashewnuts and coriander leaves just before serving.



Serve hot with Potato chips and raita

Vegetable Manchurian

A chinese Menu never ends without a Manchurian. This is my recipe of Manchurian again modified to our indian taste. Enjoy and do leave me ur comments.:)

Ingredients:

For Manchurian Balls:

1 1/2 cups grated Cabbage

2 big Carrots- grated

2 finely chopped Green Chillies

3 tbsp Cornflour

1 tbsp Maida

1/4 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Pepper powder

Oil for frying

For Manchurian Sauce:

1 1/2 tbsp Oil (take if you have sesame oil, ginger oil, garlic oil (otherwise reg. is ok)

1" piece Ginger - crushed

5-6 flakes Garlic - curshed

2 Green Chillies, finely chopped

1/2 Onion finely chopped

1 1/2 tbsp Tomato ketchup

2 Tbsp Soya sauce

2 tsp Vinegar

1/2 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Pepper

1 1/2 tbsp Cornflour

a pinch Ajinomoto or MSG (optional)

Method:

Add 1 tsp salt to cabbage. Keep aside for 15 minutes, Squeeze well to remove out all the water.
Mix all the other ingredients of the balls. More flour may be added if mixture does not bind together. Make balls. Touch some oil to the palm to make smooth balls. Roll in flour and shallow fry 2-3 pieces at a time on medium flame. Keep the balls aside.

To prepare sauce, heat 1 1/2 tbsp oil, Add ginger & garlic. Fry on low flame for a minute.
Add green chillies and onions. Cook for one minute. Reduce heat and add soya sauce, tomoto sauce, vinegar, salt and pepper. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Now add the ajinomoto (this gives the authentic chinese taste to ur manchurian...u may skip this too)

Add 1 1/2 cups of water. Boil. Keep on slow fire for 2 minutes.
Dissolve cornflour in 1/2 cup water. Add corn flour strring continuously, cook till slightly thick.
Add the balls to the manchurian sauce and keep on slow fire for one minute.
Serve hot with noodles or rice.

Serve hot with Hakka Noodle, Fried rice or Naan / Chapati. (My hubby loves to eat this with chapati or steamed rice.)

Hakka Noodles

Yummmmmmmm... I love this dish...:P Its my all time favourite. Something I can eat anytime...hehhe I am a hakka noodles fan. And I know there are many more there who would love to join my league on this. This recipe may not be the authentic chinese haka noodles recipe. But its a recipe i normally follow and its awesome Indo -chinese noodles.....

So do try this recipe and give me ur reviews...

Ingredients:

1 packet - Hakka Veg Noodles(if possible use Ching's Secret Hakka Noodles)
1 tea-cup Cabbage-shredded
1 large carrot-sliced
1/2 cup capsicum-sliced
2 Spring Onions-chopped
4 Tbsp Oil (if possible use Olive Oil)
5-10 Tbsp Green chilli Sauce
10- 12 Tbsp Soya sauce
Salt to taste


Method:

Boil 8 cup of water in a large pan, let the water bubble. Drop the noodles and boil them for only 2 minutes. The noodles are cooked aldent (Aldent: means partially cooking noodles or leaving it slightly "kachcha"). Drain the noodles and spread on a flat surface and toss in 1 tea-spoon of oil on the noodles to prevent sticking.

Heat oil, preferably olive oil in a frying pan on a high flame. Add vegetables and stir-fry for sometime. Dont cook it too much.. the vegetables should be crisp.Add Soya sauce and the noodles and stir for 2-3 minutes (Adjust salt and sauces as per taste). Now add the green chilli sauce and saute for some time. Garnish with freshly cut spring onions and serve hot

Please note: Please do not cook Hakka noodles fully, make sure it must have cooked kachcha.


Serve hot with Vegetable Manchurian.

Left-over Magic

This is my contribution to the WBB # 15 Hosted by nandita of saffron trail (http://saffrontrail.blogspot.com/2007/09/wbb-15-announcement-gokulashtami.html)

This is what happens when ur fridge is stacked up with yesterday's leftover...."MAGIC" thats wt happened with me... My magic was this amazing breakfast recipe i came up with. I have one chapati and half a cup of rice from yday nights dinner. Now i didnt really want to trash it.....what to do?. So here is he magic i made.. for breakfast...:)

A quick and easy recipe... I call it magic coz this just happened and was amazed at what i made and how lovely it tasted.Do try it and let me know. You may use some or all items.




Ingredients :


leftover chapati - 1
left over steamed rice - 1/2 cup
white Oats - 1/3 cup
onion 1/2 chopped
tomato small - 1
Green chillies - 2-3
Fresh coriander leaves
Lemon juice - 1 tbsp
mustard seeds - 1tsp
Jeera -1 tsp



Method:



Soak the oats in some water for a 1 min, drain the water out and keep it aside. Now take the chapati and cut it into small pieces. (you can make this even with chapati alone. It tastes awesome....)


In a kadhai, take some oil. Add the mustard seeds, jeera and green chillies (slit lengthwise) into the oil. let the mustard seeds splutter. Now add the onions and the tomatoes.Add turmeric powder, and red chilli powder to it. Saute them well. Add the oats and let it cook well. Now add the rice and after mixing well for sometime follow it with the chapatis. add salt and mix well it everything is cooked well. Garnish with fresh coriander and fresh lemon juice.

Serve hot as a filling breakfast.

My Mehendi Album.... UPDATED

Hello friends, I had recently had some copyright issues. Some person stole my snaps and put it as their own in their photo album in orkut/facebook. Hence I had to put these watermarks on my mehendi album. I know these is not a justice to the design...but I cant help it. What to do there r people in this world who dont feel ashamed to steal other design and pose as if its their own..... hmmm So to avoid it I had to do this. Thanks for all ur corporation... Do keep visiting my site and encouraging me. Love u all.

Thats my creation....:) a rice rosey bouquet.... my friend taught me this rose shading.. trying to master it..:)

Thats the design I made for my then 12 year old cousin....:) she had such sleek hands/palm I envy her..:P

Thats vidu's hand again...:)

Thats again a kiran sahib design adaptation.... i just love kiran sahib designs..:D

The back hand design... just something I made when I was bored...:P

my new design..... ita a kiran sahib design....enjoy and do leave ur comments...:)

this is my bahbhi's hand.....just some random simple design...:D

My co-sister (bhabhi's hand)....

My friend laxmi's hand...:)

thats my bhabhi and family friend laxmi's hand....

Other than being an amateur cook i also keen keen interest in mehendi designing... these are my designs...do see and comment on them...:)...all these designs are mostly from my imagination..... and some are mix and match.... taking ideas from some designs....

the scorpion I made on the hand of my uncle's son....

mehendi design done by me on my hand.... for my engagement,...

mehendi done by me on my hand... sorry for the poor lighting...

my mehendi design on anita akka's hand..:)..

Please dont copy these design... its my hardwork... if u want to post it in any of ur collection... please ask me first.:)

will be adding more of my work soon.... do comment.....